My terms and conditions for using AI

This post was published on February 17, 2025

Last weekend, I wrote a more or less casual post on LinkedIn containing the ‘rules’ (it’s more of a list of terms and conditions, really) I set for myself when it comes to using AI.

That post received some interesting comments that made me think and refine my thoughts on when (not) to use AI to support me in my work. Thank you to all of you who commented for doing so, and for showing me that there still is value in being active on LinkedIn in between all the AI-generated ‘content’. I really appreciate it.

Now, AI and LLMs like ChatGPT or Claude can be very useful, that is, when used prudently. I think it is very important to be conscious and cautious when it comes to using AI, though, which is why I wrote that post. I wrote it mostly for myself, to structure my thoughts around AI, but also because I think it is important that others are at least conscious of what they’re doing and working with. That doesn’t mean you have to adhere to or even agree with my views and the way I use these tools, by the way. Different strokes for different folks.

Because of the ephemeral nature of these LinkedIn posts, and the importance of the topic to me, I want to repeat the ‘rules’ (again, more of a T&C list) I wrote down here. This is the original, unchanged list from the post I wrote on February 15:

• I only use it to support me in completing tasks I understand. I need to be able to scrutinize the output the AI system produces and see if it is both sound and fit for the purpose I want to use it for.

• I never use it to explain to me something I don’t know yet or don’t understand enough. I have seen and read about too many hallucinations to trust them to teach me what I don’t understand. Instead, I use books, articles, and other content from authors and sources I do trust if I’m looking to learn something new.

• I never EVER use it for creative work. I don’t use AI-generated images anywhere, and all of my blogs, LinkedIn posts, comments, course material and other written text are 100% my own, warts and all. My views, my ideas, my voice.

Interestingly, most of the comments were written in reaction to the first two bullet points at the time I wrote this blog post. I don’t know exactly why this is the case, it might be because the people who read it agree (which I doubt seeing the tsunami of AI-generated content that’s around these days), or maybe because there’s a bit of stigma around admitting to use AI for content generation. I don’t know.

What I do know is that it is an important principle to me. I wrote about the reasons for that in an earlier blog post, so I won’t repeat myself here.

Like so many terms and conditions, the list I wrote down in this post will probably evolve over time, but what will not change is me remaining very careful around where I use and where I don’t use AI to help me in my work. Especially now that the speed with which new developments in the AI space are presented to us and the claims around what it can and will do only get bigger, I think it is wise to remain cautious and look at these developments with a critical and very much human view.

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